Overuse of the word "Literally"

I am so sick of hearing people use the word "literally" ... just sick of it ... don't use the word, ever, please!!! ... really, I promise you, if you open your ears to how often it is used, you will be amazed at how many people are linguistic zombies ...

Just think of how many times I could have used "literally" in that last sentence ...

Decades ago it was "cool" or "basically" or whatever ... this is the decade of "literally"

--Ms. D.

I literally agree with you. It seems like literally everybody is using the word "literally" way too much. I mean, I see it on literally every tv show, and in literally every conversation I have with literally every person.

It's literally annoying.

I don't think that ("literally") is a word that I overuse. I hardly ever even use it. On the other hand, I recognize that I really overuse the word "actually." Don't know why I do. I also seem to annoy a lot of folks with the way I frequently start sentences with conjunctions. Actually, that may not be among my worst offenses. Or the most common. ;-)

I tend to be self-aware of many of my writing foibles, and many of them bother me. In response, I over-edit. Recently, I posted something here where I used the word "explicitly" when the proper word would have been "implicitly". I thought about that later that night, but I was too lazy to come back here and correct my post.

Edit: I just remembered one of my college friends from several decades ago telling me about an incident that took place in an English class. They were beginning their study of Dante's Inferno, and the professor said, "Today we are going to hell. Well ... literally."

Quote: Doc

Edit: I just remembered one of my college friends from several decades ago telling me about an incident that took place in an English class. They were beginning their study of Dante's Inferno, and the professor said, "Today we are going to hell. Well ... literally."

Maybe your friend misheard the professor, the word "literarily" fits ...

Quote: DorothyGale

I am so sick of hearing people use the word "literally" ... just sick of it ... don't use the word, ever, please!!! ... really, I promise you, if you open your ears to how often it is used, you will be amazed at how many people are linguistic zombies ...

Like, you're all, like, literally, like freaked out, like.

Better :P

Quote: Nareed

Like, you're all, like, literally, like freaked out, like.

I tell you Nareed, the word "like" is gone ... it's all "literally" all the time now ... even "Valley Girl" speak has substituted "literally" for "like" ... joke all you want ... but this is so far beyond a joke ... watch for it on the evening news tonight ... in the subway ... while walking in the park ... even the space aliens are using it ... it's a virus eating away at our common consciousness ...

LOL glad I'm not the only one with crazy language anger. "Supposably" gets my goat pretty good, as does "irregardless". I also have to deal with sayings like "pass the puck" (Pass the buck? That doesn't even make any sense!) :facepalm:

I even had an arguement where someone was describing a conversation and said "no pun intended, but you do sleep later than most". I said "Erm... that's not a pun" to which I was informed "You say 'no pun intended' to state you mean no offense". In TV land, this is where my head would literally explode ;).

Go on social network sites and have a look around. Or go to Failblog (dot) org and have a see. I don't know if it'll make you a proponent for gov. mandated birth control, but it will at least cause the idea to enter your mind.

Unfortunately "literally" has become a word used to reel people into your conversation... instead of you know what it literally means in the English language. *Bows from correct usage*

"Could care less" when they mean to say "couldn't care less" is mine. I mean seriously, fucking sit back and think about what you're trying to say. This one bugs me in particular because people are trying to convey an incredibly strong emotion and fail horribly.

I try not to judge though, I'm an incredibly unapologetic person when it comes to my political opinions and fit "would" in there to try and deflect from my definitive answers. For example "I would think".

David Cross from his comedy album, "Shut Up You F#$%ing Baby..."

(Transcribed from the Youtube audio clip)

Quote: David Cross

So, uh, you know, one of the things I can't stand, one of my, like, pet peeves, is people who misuse the word literally. F#$%ing, it drives me up a wall, because when you misuse the word literally, you are using it in the exact opposite way it was intended. When you f#$% that up, you f#$% it up so bad. It's not like a little goof, you know, you said penultimate, you mean ultimate, like you're off by one, it's... you completely f#$%ing misuse it and you should stop using the word, forever, until you f#$%ing figure it out.

F#$%ing sportscasters do that all the time, you know, they... they like, you know,
"He literally ripped his head off on that play! Oh my!"
And you're like, "What? No he didn't. Don't... you shouldn't be... talking into a microphone, and describing things to people. Don't do that."
"He literally grew wings and ascended to Heaven, where God blessed him with this god-like defensive blocking capability, and, he stayed in Heaven for seven glorious days and nights, dining with the gods, and God turned a switch and stopped time here on Earth, so that he may do so, and then... sent him back to Earth and onto the field, and at the appropriate time, like, did the switch so we wouldn't know what happened, and then..."
Well, that's an exaggeration, but still, you know... you know what I mean.

You know, like just, people, oh they'd f#$%ing be like,
"Dude, man, I'll tell you the funniest story, man, I um, I was really f#$%ed up the other day, I was hanging out with Jeremy, and we both super f#$%ed up, and we went back to Jeremy's apartment, and we split this bar of Zanax, ok, and then he put on that Viking hat, you know, that he won in Vegas, you know, and he started dancing around. Dude, it was so f#$%ing funny. Dude, I literally s%^& my pants!"
"Wow, oh man. Ooh, what did you.. what did you do?"
"Dude, I was laughing!"
"No, I mean, what did you do with your pants? I mean..."
"What are you talking about?"
"No, you said you literally s%^& your pants."
"Yeah, dude, it was f#$%ing funny!"
"No, I know, that's what I'm saying, what did you do with your s%^&ty pants, is what I'm asking."
"What? No, dude, I didn't f#$%ing really s%^& my pants, I literally s%^& my pants. You need to... you don't understand, man. You don't get it... at all."

Wow. David Cross literally says f#$%ing a lot.

DG, you should hang out with my wife (English major). I do believe the she is the Commissioner of the Grammar Police. How she has survived 21 years with my ultra-stupid ass is WAY beyond my comprehension.

Edit to include quick story: The other day, I overheard a phone conversation between her and a friend of hers, discussing how a third friend had "no earthly idea of how to properly use a gerund". I just shook my head, had a real silent WTF explode in my brain, and went back to my football watching so I could remove that from my mind before it caused an aneurysm.